Legal and Public Relations
Note that ICRP members have access to a legal helpline. That was at the time. Now that much of the media content is shared directly with the public instead of being filtered by journalists, PR professionals are more visible and accountable for their words and actions. We need to be aware of the risks. It is our reputation that is now at stake, as well as that of our organizations and partners. Publicly traded companies (those whose shares are publicly traded) are strictly regulated and are required to provide fair and equal disclosure of information to shareholders and other groups through carefully orchestrated disclosures of information. Any announcement that is considered sensitive to the stock market (i.e. likely to affect the share price) is subject to disclosure requirements. In fact, this means that those working on ads are often in possession of sensitive messages from the beginning and must pay close attention to privacy and avoid intentional or accidental leaks to avoid any suspicion of “insider trading,” a criminal offense. When it comes to managing a customer`s reputation during the process process, whether it is an individual or a company, it is up to the PR process to manage everything.
Litigation PR is an area of legal public relations. If spinach causes food poisoning, who will a company call? He will rely on his legal team and public relations experts specializing in litigation and crisis communication. These communications careers are great alternative careers for lawyers, says Nick Gaffney, a former attorney and partner at a San Francisco public relations firm. To achieve these objectives, the public relations officer must establish credibility with the media as a source of information. The next step is to control the flow of information to the media to ensure that the preferred narrative is broadcast. The third step is to develop a message that supports the client`s position and conveys it to the media and the public. [7] [1] [4] Morris and Goldsworthy explain why public relations practitioners have traditionally not been required to follow the law to the letter. Media relations operated through informal agreements that were rarely legally binding; And what appeared in public was the legal responsibility of the publisher, not the invisible hand that fed them. In addition, consulting and advertising services have been outsourced to organizations that have paid for it, “which is inherently a low risk, certainly compared to journalism, which often spreads bad news about people and organizations. Public relations practitioners are usually in the business of saying things that people want and do so with their consent. “Searching through unlimited information about laws takes an enormous amount of time, so we`ve narrowed it down to 5 legal questions you should know as a PR professional.
Intellectual property (IP) describes various legal rights, including patents, trademarks, copyrights (see below), and image or personality rights. While property and possessions can be considered physical assets, we call them “intellectual property” because they describe an intangible asset. The Freedom of Information Act was adopted in 2000 and regulates access to information held by public authorities. Citizens can submit written Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and public authorities are required to respond to a tactic often used by investigative journalists to find information for news or by activists to continue their campaigns. This article is not an attempt to review all the laws that apply to public relations; And this should not be understood as legal advice. It is simply an introduction to some of the broad areas of law that practitioners need to know about – as well as an explanation of why some understanding of the law is becoming increasingly important. A very interesting paper submitted to the Institute for Public Relations by Bryan H. Reber (now Dr. Reber) for scientific review takes a close look at this particular topic. The Lawyer-Public Relations Counselor Dynamic was published in 2000, but much of it still rings true today. In the study, Reber describes four “personality types” from answers to questions that identify character traits about her/her profession in public relations and law, and classifies them as follows: The most fundamental code in any public relations program is the duty to tell the truth. Many national organizations, such as the Public Relations Society of America, have been formed to develop a substantive code of ethics to which members of the profession must adhere.
Ethics are important not only for large companies, but also for any small company involved in public relations activities. Your degree of responsibility and credibility and how you are perceived determines your success in the industry. Adhering to professional codes of conduct helps increase public confidence in the public relations profession and thus supports your company`s public relations work. In addition to formal codes of ethics developed by associations, companies themselves publish codes of conduct that set standards of ethical behaviour. These range from general codes of conduct to more specialized codes of conduct in areas such as financial relations, producing video press releases, and interacting with bloggers and social media. Public relations law is the application of other areas of law related to certain practices, such as explaining commercial or institutional concerns to the public. One area of law that any company`s public relations professionals need to be particularly sensitive to is privacy. This includes employee communication, photo releases, product advertising, and employee advertising and media inquiries. The United States has several laws to monitor and protect employees in certain situations. For example, state and federal laws generally protect employees` right to “report” if an organization is guilty of illegal activity. Protection for these employees is limited and regulation for whistleblowers is complicated. Public relations professionals need to research their legal protections and stay informed of changes to ensure they adhere to the right legal standards.
It is easy to see how little has changed in the relationship between public relations and the law since this study was conducted. What has changed is the way society communicates. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram when this diary was written – the internet was actually heading straight for a slowdown when the dot-com bubble burst within a year. As always, consult a lawyer who has expertise in these areas before making any important legal decisions. This diligence of public companies (LPCs) often stands in stark contrast to the power of founder-owners to make public statements via their social media channels that can move markets and change public opinion. The way companies communicate reflects their purpose and values, and debates about governance (the G in ESG) are becoming increasingly important for investors and PR teams. TIP: If you run into unavoidable legal issues, try legal software so your legal team can walk into the store and find case and customer information. “You can win in court, but lose in court of public opinion.” From crisis strategy and communications to media relations, litigation support and reputation management, we offer a full range of legal public relations services to support lawyers and their clients: In general, there is no risk of copyright infringement by linking to original content online, but publishers (represented by the Newspapers Licensing Agency) have tried to get fees for PR industry links. a lawsuit that was overturned by the courts in the Meltwater case in 2014. At the collective level, businesses, public bodies, charities and interest groups seek to influence public servants, MPs and ministers about legislation that may affect them and the groups they represent in a process known as lobbying or public affairs. For public relations – The “caring collaborator”, characterized as collaborative and seeking understanding; and the “Legal Eagle”, which is also collaborative, but identifies as someone who can assess business issues from a legal and public relations perspective.
Learn more about NP StrategyNP Strategy, a subsidiary of Nexsen Pruet, serves companies and organizations that are launching projects, facing a crisis, trying to deal with media problems, and looking to expand in the Carolinas. The NP Strategy team is comprised of business people who have held leadership positions in corporate, public and government policy organizations. You`ve run newsrooms in some of the largest cities in the U.S. and led corporate communications departments nationwide. To learn more about the team, visit www.NPStrat.com/Team. Contentious public relations, also known as contentious communications, is the management of the communication process during litigation or litigation in order to influence the outcome or its impact on the client`s overall reputation. [1] The objectives of litigation PR differ from those of general PR in that they are related to litigation support rather than general profiling. Accordingly, the legal implications of any communication are given the strategic objectives and sensitive rules for disclosure during the legal proceedings. The New York Times reports that sophisticated public relations efforts for litigation “revolve around the P.R.
crisis clock.
